Getting Started

To include the source files for Plugin and its dependencies, first load the YUI seed file if you haven't already loaded it.

<script src="http://yui.yahooapis.com/3.8.0/build/yui/yui-min.js"></script>

Next, create a new YUI instance for your application and populate it with the modules you need by specifying them as arguments to the YUI().use() method. YUI will automatically load any dependencies required by the modules you specify.

<script>
// Create a new YUI instance and populate it with the required modules.
YUI().use('plugin', function (Y) {
    // Plugin is available and ready for use. Add implementation
    // code here.
});
</script>

For more information on creating YUI instances and on the use() method, see the documentation for the YUI Global Object.

Creating Plugins

Simple Plugins

For the most basic plugins, which don't have any events or attributes of their own, and which don't modify the behavior of the host by listening for any host events, or overriding any of the host's methods, plugins can simply be basic JavaScript classes.

The only requirement for the class is that it has a static namespace property NS with a value assigned to it. The value of the NS property is used to define the property on the host instance which will refer to the plugin when it's plugged into the host.

When plugins are plugged into a host instance a new instance of the plugin is created, and a reference to the host is added to the configuration object passed to the plugin's constructor, so that the plugin has a way to reference the host object. (similarly, when plugins are unplugged from a host object they are destroyed).

So, putting this all together, a simple plugin class may look something like the following:

// This AnchorPlugin is designed to be added to Node instances (the host will be a Node instance)

function AnchorPlugin(config) {

    // Hold onto the host instance (a Node in this case), 
    // for other plugin methods to use.

    this._node = config.host;
}

// When plugged into a node instance, the plugin will be 
// available on the "anchors" property.
AnchorPlugin.NS = "anchors"

AnchorPlugin.prototype = {
    disable: function() {
        var node = this._node;
        var anchors = node.queryAll("a");
        anchors.addClass("disabled");
        anchors.setAttribute("disabled", true);
    }
};

To use the AnchorPlugin, the user would plug it into a Node reference they were holding on to:

var container = Y.one("div.actions");
container.plug(AnchorPlugin);

And invoke methods on the plugin, through the namespace it is bound to:

container.anchors.disable();

Advanced Plugins

For basic features, simple plugin classes as described above may suffice. However, when you have more complex features which you'd like to encapsulate, the ability to use attributes and events for your plugin implementation becomes useful. More importantly, for many plugins, you'll be looking to modify the default behavior of the host instance in some way (for example an Animation Plugin may want to change the default show/hide behavior of a Widget, to be animated).

For these richer plugins, you should extend the base plugin class Plugin.Base.

Plugin is a subclass of Base, thereby providing managed attributes, lifecycle methods, and custom event support. Additionally it allows the plugin code to either listen for and react to events fired by the host or inject custom logic before or after methods invoked on the host object (through the YUI 3 AOP infrastructure). Plugin.Base also sets up host as an attribute, so you can access it through this.get("host") in your plugin implementation code.

Extending Plugin.Base

You can extend the Plugin.Base class, just as you would extend the Base class. One thing to note when comparing this to simple plugins is that the host reference is automatically set up as an attribute by the Plugin.Base class, so a reference to it does not need to be set up explicitly.

The class structure for an advanced plugin follows the pattern for all classes derived from Base, with the addition of the NS property to define the namespace for the plugin (see the Base documentation for details about NAME and ATTRS).

// A plugin class designed to animate Widget's show and hide methods.
function WidgetAnimPlugin(config) {
    WidgetAnimPlugin.superclass.constructor.apply(this, arguments);
}

// Define Static properties NAME (to identify the class) and NS (to identify the namespace)
WidgetAnimPlugin.NAME = 'widgetAnimPlugin';
WidgetAnimPlugin.NS = 'fx';

// Attribute definitions for the plugin
WidgetAnimPlugin.ATTRS = {

    animHidden : {
        ...
    },

    animVisible: {
        ...
    }
};

// Extend Plugin.Base
Y.extend(WidgetAnimPlugin, Y.Plugin.Base, {

    // Add any required prototype methods

});

The plugin class structure described above is captured in this "MyPlugin" Template File, which you can use as a starting point to create your own plugins derived from Plugin.Base.

Plugin Listeners

The main value obtained by extending Plugin.Base is the ability to react to events fired by the host using Plugin.Base's onHostEvent and afterHostEvent methods, or modify methods on the host, using beforeHostMethod and afterHostMethod.

The value of doing this through the above Plugin.Base methods as opposed to working with the host directly, is that any listeners added by the plugin using the above methods are removed when the plugin is unplugged. This is important. Plugins should clean up after themselves when unplugged from the host.

Events

As mentioned, plugins which derive from Plugin.Base have the ability to listen for events on the host object and react to them.

For example, all widgets fire a render event when they are rendered. Your widget-specific plugin may need to know when this occurs, so that it can inject custom elements into the markup the host renders. It can do this through the afterHostEvent method:

// A plugin which introduces rounded corners to a widget.
function RoundedCornersPlugin(config) {
    //...
}

RoundedCornersPlugin.NAME = 'roundedCornersPlugin';
RoundedCornersPlugin.NS = 'corners';

Y.extend(RoundedCornersPlugin, Y.Plugin.Base, {

    // Automatically called by Base, during construction
    initializer: function(config) { 
         // "render" is a widget event 
        this.afterHostEvent('render', this.insertCornerElements);
    },

    insertCornerElements: function() {
        var widget = this.get("host");
        var boundingBox = widget.get("boundingBox");

        var tl = Y.Node.create(TL_TEMPLATE);
        //...

        boundingBox.appendChild(tlNode);
        boundingBox.appendChild(trNode);
        boundingBox.appendChild(blNode);
        boundingBox.appendChild(brNode);
    }
});

Methods

In some cases, your plugin may need to override the logic in the host class' methods. The beforeHostMethod and afterHostMethod methods provided by Plugin.Base allow you to insert custom plugin logic before or after a method is executed on the host object.

For example, to animate the way a widget is shown or hidden, we may need to override the method which actually flips the visibility style attribute on the widget's bounding box and replace it with an animated opacity implementation, as shown below:

// A plugin class designed to animate Widget's show and hide methods.
function WidgetAnimPlugin(config) {
    //...
}

WidgetAnimPlugin.NAME = 'widgetAnimPlugin';
WidgetAnimPlugin.NS = 'fx';

WidgetAnimPlugin.ATTRS = {

    animHidden : {
        //...
    },

    animVisible: {
        //...
    }
};

// Extend Plugin.Base, and override the default
// method _uiSetVisible, used by Widget to flip the visibility
Y.extend(WidgetAnimPlugin, Y.Plugin.Base, {

    initializer : function(config) {

        // Override Widget's _uiSetVisible method, with the custom animated method
        this.beforeHostMethod("_uiSetVisible", this._uiAnimSetVisible);
    },

    _uiAnimSetVisible : function(show) {
        // Instead of flipping visibility, use the animation
        // instances configured for the plugin to animate
        // hide/show.
        if (this.get("host").get("rendered")) {
            if (show) {
                this.get("animHidden").stop();
                this.get("animVisible").run();
            } else {
                this.get("animVisible").stop();
                this.get("animHidden").run();
            }

            // Prevent the default method from being invoked.
            return new Y.Do.Prevent();
        }
    }
});